Pump Having Edge Mounted O-Ring Seal

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a fluid pump having a pump housing and an inlet wall portion positioned adjacent the pump housing. The inlet wall portion has an extending portion which extends generally parallel to an inner surface of the pump housing. A motor is housed within the pump housing. An impeller is included which is responsive to the motor. An impeller retainer is disposed adjacent the impeller and includes a radiused corner portion. An O-ring is positioned at the radiused corner portion. The O-ring exerts a force non-perpendicular to the inner surface of the pump housing to form a seal against the inner surface of the pump housing and the extending portion of the inlet wall portion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/378,965, filed on Aug. 24, 2016. The entire disclosure of the aboveapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to fluid pumps, and more particularly toa fluid pump that includes an edge mounted O-ring seal thatsignificantly improves the pressure that can be generated within thepump without leakage past the O-ring seal.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background informationrelated to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

O-ring seals are frequently used in various types of pumps to provide aseal between two parallel surfaces, and more typically between twoparallel metal surfaces. Typically, such O-rings are used on planar,facing metal surfaces. However, in certain applications where theinternal pressures required to pump a fluid, such as a deep groundwatersampling well, are significant, such conventional O-ring implementationsare fairly limited in the internal pressure that they can accommodatebefore allowing a leak to occur.

The ability to improve the internal pump pressure that a fluid pump, forexample a fluid pump used in well bores of groundwater sampling wells,would extend the capability of existing pumps and allow existing pumpsto accommodate even higher internal pressures than what is presentlypossible with conventionally mounted O-ring seals. In particular, theability to accommodate greater internal pressures would be especiallyuseful in regenerative fluid pumps, which are capable of generatingsignificantly greater internal pressures, and which are used inespecially deep well bore extending 100 meters or more below the groundsurface.

SUMMARY

This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not acomprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.

In one aspect the present disclosure relates to a fluid pump. The fluidpump may comprise a pump housing and an inlet wall portion positionedadjacent the pump housing. The inlet wall portion may include anextending portion extending generally parallel to an inner surface ofthe pump housing. A motor may be included which is housed within thepump housing. An impeller may be included which is responsive to themotor. An impeller retainer may also be included which is disposedadjacent the impeller and which includes a radiused corner portion. AnO-ring may be included which is positioned at the radiused cornerportion. The O-ring may exert a force non-perpendicular to the innersurface of the pump housing to form a seal against the inner surface ofthe pump housing and the extending portion of the inlet wall portion.

In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a fluid pump thatmay comprise a pump housing and an inlet wall portion. The inlet wallportion may be positioned adjacent the pump housing and may include anextending portion extending generally parallel to an inner surface ofthe pump housing. A motor may be housed within the pump housing. Animpeller may be included which is responsive to the motor. An impellerhousing may be included which is positioned within the pump housing forhousing the impeller. The impeller housing may include a leg portionprojecting therefrom. An impeller retainer may be disposed adjacent theimpeller and may include a radiused corner portion. An O-ring may bepositioned at the radiused corner portion. The O-ring may have a radiusapproximately the same as a radius of the radiused corner portion. TheO-ring may exert a force non-perpendicular to the inner surface of thepump housing to form a seal against the inner surface of the pumphousing.

In still another aspect the present disclosure relates to a fluid pumpthat may comprise a pump housing and an inlet wall portion. The inletwall portion may be positioned adjacent the pump housing and may includean extending portion extending generally parallel to an inner surface ofthe pump housing. The fluid pump may also include a motor housed withinthe pump housing, an impeller responsive to the motor, and an impellerhousing positioned within the pump housing for housing the impeller. Theimpeller housing may include a leg portion projecting therefrom parallelto, and adjacent to, the inner surface of the pump housing. An impellerretainer may be disposed adjacent the impeller and may include aradiused corner portion. An O-ring may be included which is positionedat the radiused corner portion. The O-ring may have a radiusapproximately the same as a radius of the radiused corner portion. TheO-ring may exert a force at about a 45 degree angle relative to theinner surface of the pump housing to form a seal against the innersurface of the pump housing.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the descriptionprovided herein. The description and specific examples in this summaryare intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

FIG. 1 is a partial side cross sectional view of a pump in accordancewith one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the pump shown in FIG. 1showing in even greater detail an area where an O-ring of the presentdisclosure is mounted on an edge of one of the pump components; and

FIG. 3 illustrate graphs of internal pump pressures achievable using aconventional O-ring and the new edge mounted O-ring construction of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is notintended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.

Referring to FIG. 1, a pump 10 is shown in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The pump 10 is aregenerative pump constructed in large part in accordance with thedescription provided in co-pending U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser.No. 15/100,904, filed Jun. 1, 2016 (16783-000123-US-NPB), the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference into the presentdisclosure. The pump 10 of the present disclosure differs only from thepump shown in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 15/100,904 in theseal that is provided adjacent to a regenerative pump impeller, as willbe described below in detail.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the pump 10 generally includes atubular metal pump housing 12 having a housing end wall 14 with fluidinlet ports 15. Within the pump housing 12 is a motor 16, which may be aDC or AC powered motor, having an output shaft 18. The followingdiscussion will reference a DC motor, but it will be appreciated thatthe pump 10 is equally well suited to use with AC or DC motors.

The output shaft 18 of the DC motor 16 drives an impeller 20 via aconnection to an impeller retainer 22. The impeller 20 is disposedbetween the impeller retainer 22 and an impeller housing 24. An outletend cap 26 is disposed at an opposite end of the pump housing 12 andincludes a discharge bore 28 through which fluid which has entered thepump 10 is pumped out from the pump. A suitable hose (not shown) may becoupled to the discharge bore 28 through which the fluid may be pumpedup a wellbore within which the pump 10 is positioned to a collectiontank or reservoir. A conduit 30 forms a means for making an electricalconnection with the DC motor 16 to power the DC motor. A circuit board32 is also positioned within the pump housing 12 for assisting incontrolling the DC motor 16 and controlling overall operation of thepump 10.

Referring to FIG. 2, the circled area labelled 2 in FIG. 1 is shown inhighly enlarged form. The impeller retainer 22 includes a supply channel34 formed therein, and the impeller 20 includes a channel 20 a whichcommunicates with the supply channel 34 and is used to pump fluid to adischarge channel (not visible in FIG. 2) in the impeller housing 24.Disposed at a corner of the impeller retainer 22 and impeller housing 24interface is an O-ring 36 which seals the interface area between thesetwo components. The O-ring 36 is supported in a new edge mountedconfiguration that provides significantly improved pump performance byenabling a significantly increased internal pressure that can beaccommodated by the pump 10.

The edge mounting of the O-ring 36 is accomplished by providing aradiused edge 38 on an upper peripheral corner of the impeller retainer22. The O-ring 36 is only partially seated within the radiused edge 38.The radius of curvature of the radiused edge 38 is preferably about thesame as, and more preferably exactly the same as, the radius of theO-ring 36. The housing end wall 14 includes an extending portion 14 ahaving a flat surface 14 b which makes contact with the O-ring 36 andhelps to cause a controlled deformation of the O-ring 36. The O-ring 36is also contacted by an upper flat surface 24 a of a leg 24 b of theimpeller housing 24. The contact of the O-ring 36 with the flat surface14 b of the extending portion 14 a, as well as the upper flat surface 24a of the impeller housing leg 24 b and the radiused edge 38 allcooperate to cause the O-ring to be deformed in a controlled manner soas to bulge out along directional arrow 40. Directional arrow 40 extendsgenerally at about a 45 degree angle relative to the pump housing 12.The 45 degree angle of the bulge provides a first vector component whichpushes upwardly against the flat surface 14 b of the extending portion14 a of the housing end wall 14, while simultaneously pushing outwardlyalong a horizontal vector against an inner wall surface 12 a of the pumphousing 12. This enables three sealing surfaces to be simultaneouslycreated with the single O-ring 36: a first seal between the flat surface14 b and the impeller retainer 22; a second seal between the uppersurface 24 a of the impeller housing 24 and the inner wall surface 12 aof the housing 12; and a third seal between the inside wall surface 12 aand the right side of the O-ring 36.

The edge supported O-ring 36 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 enablessignificantly higher internal pump pressures to be handled which wouldnot be possible with a conventional O-ring mounting. FIG. 3 illustratesthe significantly increased pressures that the O-ring 36 enablesrelative to a conventional O-ring seal. In FIG. 3 the graph 42represents the pressures achievable using the O-ring 36, while graph 44represents the pressures achievable by a conventional O-ring seal.

The edge-mounted O-ring 36 of the present pump 10 described herein doesnot require additional component parts to be included in the pump, nordoes it require extensive modifications to the internal components ofthe pump. The edge mounted O-ring 36 construction also does not requiresignificant modifications to the assembly procedure for assembling thepump 10, nor does it add appreciably to the overall cost or complexityof the pump 10. The significantly increased pressures that the pump 10can accommodate enable the pump to be used to pump liquids at depthsthat would have heretofore been impossible to pump from with aconventional O-ring sealing construction.

While various embodiments have been described, those skilled in the artwill recognize modifications or variations which might be made withoutdeparting from the present disclosure. The examples illustrate thevarious embodiments and are not intended to limit the presentdisclosure. Therefore, the description and claims should be interpretedliberally with only such limitation as is necessary in view of thepertinent prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fluid pump comprising: a pump housing; an inletwall portion positioned adjacent the pump housing and including anextending portion extending generally parallel to an inner surface ofthe pump housing; a motor housed within the pump housing; an impellerresponsive to the motor; an impeller retainer disposed adjacent theimpeller and including a radiused corner portion; an O-ring positionedat the radiused corner portion; and the O-ring exerting a forcenon-perpendicular to the inner surface of the pump housing to form aseal against the inner surface of the pump housing and the extendingportion of the inlet wall portion.
 2. The fluid pump of claim 1, whereinthe O-ring has a radius approximately the same as a radius of theradiused corner portion.
 3. The fluid pump of claim 1, further includingan impeller housing positioned within the pump housing for housing theimpeller, the impeller housing including a leg portion projectingtherefrom.
 4. The fluid pump of claim 3, wherein the O-ring contacts asurface of the leg portion.
 5. The fluid pump of claim 4, wherein theO-ring exerts a force at about a 45 degree angle relative to the innersurface of the pump housing.
 6. The fluid pump of claim 5, wherein thewherein the O-ring simultaneously forms a three way seal including: afirst seal between the extending portion of the inlet wall portion andthe impeller retainer; a second seal between an upper surface of the legportion of the impeller housing and the inner wall surface of the pumphousing; and a third seal between the inner wall surface of the pumphousing and the O-ring.
 7. The fluid pump of claim 1, wherein a minorportion of the O-ring sits in the radiused corner portion.
 8. A fluidpump comprising: a pump housing; an inlet wall portion positionedadjacent the pump housing and including an extending portion extendinggenerally parallel to an inner surface of the pump housing; a motorhoused within the pump housing; an impeller responsive to the motor; animpeller housing positioned within the pump housing for housing theimpeller, the impeller housing including a leg portion projectingtherefrom; an impeller retainer disposed adjacent the impeller andincluding a radiused corner portion; and an O-ring positioned at theradiused corner portion, the O-ring having a radius approximately thesame as a radius of the radiused corner portion; and the O-ring exertinga force non-perpendicular to the inner surface of the pump housing toform a seal against the inner surface of the pump housing.
 9. The fluidpump of claim 8, wherein the O-ring bulges out to exert a force atapproximately a 45 degree angle relative to the inner surface of thepump housing.
 10. The fluid pump of claim 8, wherein the O-ringsimultaneously forms a three way seal including: a first seal betweenthe extending portion of the inlet wall portion and the impellerretainer; a second seal between an upper surface of the leg portion ofthe impeller housing and the inner wall surface of the pump housing; anda third seal between the inner wall surface of the pump housing and theO-ring.
 11. The fluid pump of claim 8, wherein only a minor portion ofthe O-ring is seated in the radiused corner portion of the impellerretainer.
 12. A fluid pump comprising: a pump housing; an inlet wallportion positioned adjacent the pump housing and including an extendingportion extending generally parallel to an inner surface of the pumphousing; a motor housed within the pump housing; an impeller responsiveto the motor; an impeller housing positioned within the pump housing forhousing the impeller, the impeller housing including a leg portionprojecting therefrom parallel to and adjacent to the inner surface ofthe pump housing; an impeller retainer disposed adjacent the impellerand including a radiused corner portion; and an O-ring positioned at theradiused corner portion, the O-ring having a radius approximately thesame as a radius of the radiused corner portion; and the O-ring exertinga force at about a 45 degree angle relative to the inner surface of thepump housing to form a seal against the inner surface of the pumphousing.
 13. The fluid pump of claim 12, wherein the O-ringsimultaneously contacts: the radiused corner portion of the impellerretainer; a surface of the extending portion of the inlet wall portion;an upper surface of the leg portion of the impeller housing; and theinner surface of the pump housing.
 14. The fluid pump of claim 12,wherein the radiused corner portion contacts a minor portion of theO-ring.
 15. The fluid pump of claim 11, wherein the O-ringsimultaneously forms a three way seal including: a first seal betweenthe extending portion of the inlet wall portion and the impellerretainer; a second seal between an upper surface of the leg portion ofthe impeller housing and the inner wall surface of the pump housing; anda third seal between the inner wall surface of the pump housing and theO-ring.